New York: Pop star Lady Gaga has got 19 new species of fern named after her by scientists at Duke University.

The ferns, all under one genus, was named after Gaga by Kathleen Pryer, a professor of biology at Duke and director of the school's herbarium, "because of her fervent defense of equality and individual expression", reported New York Times.

"We think that her second album, 'Born this Way,' is enormously empowering, especially for disenfranchised people and communities like LGBT, ethnic groups, women," said Pryer in a statement.

An admiration for Gaga's work for equal rights wasn't Pryer's only reason. The fern reproduces by spores that can grow into plants that could end up being male, female, or bisexual (apparently even plants can go both ways).

In the past, Gaga has discussed her relationships with women, and she is a fervent supporter of anyone and anything bisexual fauna included. Also, a graduate student studying the base pairs of the genus' DNA discovered that the letters GAGA appear in the plant's sequence.

Names that came about from this designation were "Gaga germanotta" - borrowing from the singer's real name (Stefani Germanotta) - "Gaga monstraparva", using the Latin translation of "little monsters".